A Slippery Issue

Today I had the day off School. This happened not because of a public holiday, but because of the weather: recently it has been snowing on my little island.

“Snow days” are not uncommon in the England, particularly in the south where the infrastructure is such that when the ground receives a thin covering of snow, everything seems to grind to a halt. Quite literally  on the journey to school this morning.

It’s not so much that I mind the occasional snow day, like anyone else I enjoy a day off (justified or otherwise), it’s just that tomorrow I have an exam, and given the choice, this is one day I actually would’ve liked to have spent in school. So when a friend rang me this morning informing me of the closure, you can imagine my reaction having already got myself up, and traveled halfway to my school. For the sake of avoiding a profanity in my very first blog, let’s just say I was not pleased.

So little snow settled today that most of it had already melted by afternoon, in temperatures of no more than 3 degrees. In truth was it really necessary for closures of not only my school, but many others in the region? Not considering the primary reason was that “staff cannot travel in”. To me this sounds suspiciously like a good excuse for a day off, and had it been any other day than today, I would have agreed!

Besides cheeky days off, the other thing that seems to always  accompany snow is icy pavements. Nobody likes these, and even if we don’t all admit it, we’ve all slipped over at least once, and someone probably laughed at us. This is so much the common experience, that this topic earned a slot on a Radio 2 discussion program today.

Is this you? Well not literally...

As is typically of the particular program (The Jeremy Vine Show), many of the callers blamed the issue of falling on one’s backside on the government. I suppose we pay taxes for something do we not? In all seriousness I understand that many people have the opinion that icy pavements are the fault of council, who fails to apply grit as liberally as required. While this may be true, I disagree with those who blame the council when they’ve slipped over, and here’s why:

Let’s say it rains. We know that rain is wet, and so if we don’t prepare ourselves properly we also become wet if we venture out into it. Thus either we take an umbrella and stay dry (and smug), or we get caught unprepared and get wet. But should this happen, do you blame the council, or some other authority? No, you blame yourself for being a mug and leaving your umbrella at home. So why then when somebody slips over on the ice, do they blame the council?

After all, ice is just another weather condition, one which we all know makes pavements slippery. Surely then the same logic applies: either take precautions, or fall over. One could argue that grit is the precaution, but on the other hand the council doesn’t hold an umbrella over your head while you walk down to the shops for a pint of milk. A better precaution is caution itself.

Everyday this week it has been icy, and everyday I have walked on it, and everyday I have stayed upright – just by being cautious. So when I fall on my rump, I shan’t be blaming the council, or illegal immigrants, or God. I’ll be blaming myself.

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